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January 2012 Moms
cbkeni
member
Employee Rights in MA and whatnot...long
cbkeni
member
Does anyone know about employee rights or anything along those lines (I work in Massachusetts but live in NH, I doubt that matters but just in case). I'm going to try posting on the local boards too but no one ever goes on the NH one and I'm pretty obsessed right at the moment so I feel the need to post somewhere that someone might actually answer.
My job sucks balls, I get paid $12.50 (40 hrs) NEVER given the chance to work OT I have no paid time off (sick days, vacation, personal days) because I only started here in April, the health insurance is terrible and I have paid at least $300 a month in medical bills that my insurance apparently doesn't cover. When I have the baby they offer 8 weeks UNPAID maternity leave and I'll have to pay them $80 a month to keep my insurance.
On top of that when we had the storm in October my work lost power for 2 days so we were closed, I just got my check from that week and I was only paid for 2 days (Wednesday and Thursday, I took Friday off because I was super sick so I expected to not get paid for that). So they didn't pay me for the 2 days that they closed.
Basically what happened was I had the most super job ever with good pay and AWESOME perks until the end of March when they laid me off, this was the first job I got offered so I took it thinking it was the responsible thing to do rather than sit and collect unemployment and decided I would keep looking but in the meantime I'd work here (I didn't even like the place when I came in for the interview). When the woman called to offer me the job I asked about the pay because it wasn't mentioned in the interview and she said she wasn't the person who handled that and that the person who handled it wasn't in that day so she couldn't find out (red flag), but again I figured whatever this will hold me over. When I came in for my first day I asked again about the pay and the HR Rep (who has NO training and basically just decided one day she would handle the HR duties) told me $11.50 and then immediately said "Please don't quit!" Literally the DAY I started I wanted to quit but I sucked it up and 2 weeks later I found out I was pregnant. I have NEVER once stopped looking for another job but haven't had any luck, now I'm 8 weeks away from my due date and while I know it's not legal I feel like no one will hire me at this point because I'm obviously pregnant (but I'm still looking anyway, I just have WAY less hope).
So I'm just wondering with all this shady crap going on if there's ANYTHING I can do. I can't afford to miss ANY work with what I'm getting paid, much less a couple weeks after the baby, I'm already falling behind on all my bills. I keep trying to read up on FMLA but it's a tiny company with only about 30 employees (on the books anyway) so I don't think they qualify. And since the "HR Rep" is not only clueless about that stuff but I have found out is also the Devil I can't ask her and I don't really know where to look on my own.
If someone could please tell me that it's alright and I'll be fine that would just be super 
Sorry this is so long I feel like a toolbag but I'm really freaking out right at the moment.
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Employee Rights in MA and whatnot...long
Thanks
My DH does have a job but it's not enough to cover the mortgage and bills all on his own. And I can't even save up anything because with the medical bills I've had to pay we've been literally living paycheck to paycheck.(ALSO on an unrelated note DH's truck got broken into last week and he had to buy all new tools just to keep his job which I don't know if you've ever bought tools but they're HELLA expensive). I've considered just letting some things go unpaid but I actually have managed to keep a great credit score through all this and I really don't want to ruin it especially because I'm trying so hard to get a new job and most places check your credit score now days.
But I'm really sorry! It sucks that people can be treated like this and I REALLY hope there's something we can do. If I find anything out I'll let you know
This may not get you anywhere, but you could try calling the unemployment department and asking them if you would still qualify to reopen your unemployment claim from your last job if you voluntarily left your current position. At least you could explain the situation (lower pay than promised, poor medical coverage that was not explained when you accepted the position) and see what they say. It doesn't hurt to ask.
Depending on what type of work you do, you should also try temp agencies. I've had great luck with agencies both in Boston and on the Rt 9 corridor (Westborough, Framingham, etc.). In two cases, I had temp jobs that led to offers of full time employment at great companies (once for a large investment company, once for a state college). The fact that you are pregnant is not as big a deal if a temp job is only going to last a few weeks.